Center for Great Apes
I volunteered at the Center for Great Apes (GCA) this past weekend and had a great time. The rest of this post will outline what I did there and what I learned about the sanctuary and its residents. So if you aren't an animal person, be warned.
The CGA is a sanctuary for chimpanzees and orangutans. Most of them were previously in showbusiness or were family pets. Usually when you see chimps or orangutans on TV or in movies, you are seeing juvenilles. Once they reach adolescence, they are too strong and unmanageable to work on a set. They are then used either as breeders or are sent to small unacredited roadside zoos. The CGA aims to provide a good home for these guys where they can enjoy a safe and enriching existence with other apes. It is not open to the public and is run solely on donated funds and grants. They currently house 14 orangutans and 26 chimpanzees.
This was my first time to volunteer there, so I'm still getting to know everybody (staff and ape) and they are still getting to know me. I mostly cleaned, did laundry, helped with food preparation and made popsicles and enrichment treats. From what I can tell, there are about 10 staff members and there were 2 other volunteers.
The sanctuary is not open to the public, so the apes are very interested when somebody new shows up. They have a nice
tunnel system that allows the the apes to wander around the sanctuary and still be enclosed. It seemed like no matter what I was doing (folding laundry, cleaning, food prep), I could turn around or look out the window and there would be an ape watching me. It was cool, but also a little unnerving at times.
I didn't get to spend much time with any of the individual residents, but there are a few stories I would like to share.
Grub is the alpha male of one of the chimpanzee groups. He is very much the "star" chimpanzee of the sanctuary and is apparently very artistic. He did some painting while I was there and I was very impressed. Halfway through my first day there, one of the keepers brought me a scrap of paper with two holes in it. She said that it was a mask that Grub had given it to her, but she felt like he had made it for me. Then that afternoon I stopped by his enclosure and he quickly tore the paper backing from a piece of cardboard, poked two eyeholes in it and pushed it through the fence to me. I was very honored!
Brooks is a young male chimp in Grub's group. Their enclosure is circular, with a sidewalk running around the inside edge. Whenever I got within a certain distance of the enclosure, Brooks would push a large blue barrel around and around the sidewalk. This made a nice, loud, scraping sound and he kept sneaking peaks at me to make sure I was impressed, which of course I was. If I went away, he stopped. I went away and came back several times and he was as predictable as a wind-up toy.
Pongo is an orangutan who only recently developed the cheeks pads and long thick hair of an adult male. He is just gorgeous and the pictures on the CGA website do not do him justice. He spent a lot of time sitting in front of a large fan, and with the wind in his hair he looked like a runway model. The staff there says that when he first started developing his cheek pads he was very self-concious but now he knows he looks good.
Christopher is an adolescent male orangutan and I have heard him described as "the resident MacGyver" and "a physics professor in a previous life". He didn't do anything spectacular while I was there, but I heard several great stories. Orangutans are notorious for dismantling objects, so when devices (such as hammocks) are installed in an enclosure, they are often secured with padlocks and the bolts are glued down with "locktite". Apparently, this isn't enough for Christopher - he has taken down devices and then reinstalled them elsewhere in the exhibit. He also developed a habit of using his blankets to lasso items outside of his night room, so they restricted him to very small blanket scraps. Then one night he meticulously worked at his tiny blanket scrap (less than 12" on each side) so that it was torn into one long strip and he somehow used it to lock the keeper out of the building. These stories may be embellished, but it's obvious he is a very capable orangutan.
I also met a very interesting volunteer. Betsy is an older woman who helps the CGA director, Patti Ragan, write grant proposals for the center. Several years ago Betsy was on a trip to Kenya and got involved in helping the street kids there. She has since made it her life's work to help these kids and has gone back to school in order to learn more about how to help them. Very impressive.
Oh - I also met a keeper who had worked with Zoe at Lion County Safari. Zoe is a female chimpanzee who moved to the LA Zoo as an infant. This keeper was pleased to hear that Zoe is doing so well.
The CGA is a sanctuary for chimpanzees and orangutans. Most of them were previously in showbusiness or were family pets. Usually when you see chimps or orangutans on TV or in movies, you are seeing juvenilles. Once they reach adolescence, they are too strong and unmanageable to work on a set. They are then used either as breeders or are sent to small unacredited roadside zoos. The CGA aims to provide a good home for these guys where they can enjoy a safe and enriching existence with other apes. It is not open to the public and is run solely on donated funds and grants. They currently house 14 orangutans and 26 chimpanzees.
This was my first time to volunteer there, so I'm still getting to know everybody (staff and ape) and they are still getting to know me. I mostly cleaned, did laundry, helped with food preparation and made popsicles and enrichment treats. From what I can tell, there are about 10 staff members and there were 2 other volunteers.
The sanctuary is not open to the public, so the apes are very interested when somebody new shows up. They have a nice
tunnel system that allows the the apes to wander around the sanctuary and still be enclosed. It seemed like no matter what I was doing (folding laundry, cleaning, food prep), I could turn around or look out the window and there would be an ape watching me. It was cool, but also a little unnerving at times.I didn't get to spend much time with any of the individual residents, but there are a few stories I would like to share.
Grub is the alpha male of one of the chimpanzee groups. He is very much the "star" chimpanzee of the sanctuary and is apparently very artistic. He did some painting while I was there and I was very impressed. Halfway through my first day there, one of the keepers brought me a scrap of paper with two holes in it. She said that it was a mask that Grub had given it to her, but she felt like he had made it for me. Then that afternoon I stopped by his enclosure and he quickly tore the paper backing from a piece of cardboard, poked two eyeholes in it and pushed it through the fence to me. I was very honored!
Brooks is a young male chimp in Grub's group. Their enclosure is circular, with a sidewalk running around the inside edge. Whenever I got within a certain distance of the enclosure, Brooks would push a large blue barrel around and around the sidewalk. This made a nice, loud, scraping sound and he kept sneaking peaks at me to make sure I was impressed, which of course I was. If I went away, he stopped. I went away and came back several times and he was as predictable as a wind-up toy.
Pongo is an orangutan who only recently developed the cheeks pads and long thick hair of an adult male. He is just gorgeous and the pictures on the CGA website do not do him justice. He spent a lot of time sitting in front of a large fan, and with the wind in his hair he looked like a runway model. The staff there says that when he first started developing his cheek pads he was very self-concious but now he knows he looks good.Christopher is an adolescent male orangutan and I have heard him described as "the resident MacGyver" and "a physics professor in a previous life". He didn't do anything spectacular while I was there, but I heard several great stories. Orangutans are notorious for dismantling objects, so when devices (such as hammocks) are installed in an enclosure, they are often secured with padlocks and the bolts are glued down with "locktite". Apparently, this isn't enough for Christopher - he has taken down devices and then reinstalled them elsewhere in the exhibit. He also developed a habit of using his blankets to lasso items outside of his night room, so they restricted him to very small blanket scraps. Then one night he meticulously worked at his tiny blanket scrap (less than 12" on each side) so that it was torn into one long strip and he somehow used it to lock the keeper out of the building. These stories may be embellished, but it's obvious he is a very capable orangutan.
I also met a very interesting volunteer. Betsy is an older woman who helps the CGA director, Patti Ragan, write grant proposals for the center. Several years ago Betsy was on a trip to Kenya and got involved in helping the street kids there. She has since made it her life's work to help these kids and has gone back to school in order to learn more about how to help them. Very impressive.
Oh - I also met a keeper who had worked with Zoe at Lion County Safari. Zoe is a female chimpanzee who moved to the LA Zoo as an infant. This keeper was pleased to hear that Zoe is doing so well.
posted by Laura at 8:10 PM
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